Ryanium
Sitemap ' Ryanium ' --- --- --- --- --- See the Novel - Supposedly developed by Ryan before Rapture existed, the Novel explains that material's use in early city construction. Said to be a high strength material supposedly used in the construction of BioShock's Rapture, for construction required in the high-pressure environment, which required extreme strength to hold the water pressure out (at 600 feet down, the water pressure is ~ 280 lb/sq in ) The windows we see are supposed to be made out of a transparent form of it. There still may be a significant thickness required for those windows ( 6 inches ? 1 foot thick?), and in the game they don't give the clearest view thru them. Ryanium was supposed to be somewhat expensive, so the whole city could not be made out of it. Instead Ryanium would be used in places where thinner/gracile construction was required. Very thick reinforced concrete could work just as well (and far cheaper) for all the other more mundane structural uses. Nothing says that different alloys of 'Ryanium' could not have different properties. Apparently, from what we see in the game, it is highly resistant to impacts, bullets and small explosions (or the Players would very quickly kill themselves by shooting at/near the windows). --- --- --- Ryanium - What Is It : ''' Mentioned in the Novel as a material that made many of Rapture's technical achievements possible. Possibly an outgrowth of Ryan's expertise in high power manipulation which allowed some advanced materials to be formed (matrixes of nano-tubes or somesuch). Used for : * Windows (optical Ryanium) which resist the huge ocean pressure thru tensile strength in a flat pane surface, The unbreakable windows (except when the plot conveniently requires it ...). The window reinforcements would be deeply embedded in the surrounding building structure. * 'Thin' structural tension/stiffness components for buildings (particularly window frames). * Possibly useful for 'rebar' to add increased dimensional strength in large concrete matrixes . * As a reinforcement additive to basic concrete/cement - fibers - its tensile strength combining with the compressive strength of the concrete. * Preferably subject to not much corrosion by saltwater/moisture, AND not have to be coated with something else (like real-world rebar is in corrosive environments -- which somewhat weakens the material's effective strength). * Impervious materials those vending machines seem to be made out of. No real point for this, except no other way for the machines to be intact in the Chaotic environment. A detail maybe that would have made the game more interesting. Those Rapture Tribune machine's glass facings were amazingly all intact after all these years (even with a chronic 'TP' shortage in Rapture). In the MMORPG some of these things would no longer so invulnerable, and now are subject to damage/destruction (and requiring repairs). --- --- --- '''Ryanium May Be an Artificial Graphite ?? : With Ryan expertise in high energy power technologies, this would fit into his area of interest. Mass production of such materials is done at very high temperatures (vaporizing carbon in inert gases and precipitating them to grow a crystalline form). Graphite (carbon fiber) was ignored for decades in the real world, but was already long known by the time of Rapture's inception. Used in composites as an additive to cement/concrete, it would be very useful in providing the stronger reinforced concrete needed for the bulk of Rapture's construction. Graphite is not a Compression Strength type material, so no, there shouldn't be any Bathysphere shells made out of it. It is possible that 'Ryanium' was a generic name applied to more than one advanced material - a Brand name. Come to think of it, "Nano Tubes" is another related material with very useful properties. --- --- --- --- --- . .